Pak Tee Ng

The phases and paradoxes of educational quality assurance: The case of the Singapore education system

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight three important insights into educational quality assurance, using Singapore as a case study. It is useful to policy makers and practitioners to understand the phases and paradoxes in their educational quality assurance journey so that they may recognise and manage better the complex dynamics of quality assurance in education.Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilises a phase model to analyse the development of quality assurance and the challenges and paradoxes involved. This phase model is a framework of analysis of the quality assurance dynamics of primary and secondary education in Singapore with the following phases: standardisation; local accountability; and diversity and innovationFindings – The paper finds that: quality assurance develops in phases, each with its own characteristics and challenges; quality assurance changes the nature of education; quality assurance is a paradoxical journey.Practical implications – The Singapore case study ...

Community of practice for teachers: sensemaking or critical reflective learning?

While collaborative learning among teachers is encouraged and practised in many schools today, the process of learning through ‘communities of practice’ may involve ‘sensemaking’ rather than critical reflective learning. This paper argues that sensemaking in a community of practice utilises a restricted form of reflective learning that is largely technical in nature and confined to immediate practice concerns. It is further argued that the quality of learning will be significantly enhanced by encouraging practitioners to engage in critical reflective learning where reflection is implicit and intuitive in nature, and general and contextual in scope and object.

The Singapore Global Schoolhouse: An analysis of the development of the tertiary education landscape in Singapore

Purpose – This paper seeks to analyse the Singapore governments recent attempt to make Singapore a “Global Schoolhouse” by transforming its tertiary education sector. It aims to examine the governments attempt to promote greater diversity and autonomy in the tertiary education landscape; it also aims to examine the governments systems of state funding and accountability for the tertiary education sector.Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises a policy analysis approach to examine the development of the “Global Schoolhouse” in Singapore. In particular, it examines a case study of the setting up and subsequent sudden pull‐out of the University of New South Wales Asia (UNSW Asia) to highlight the increasing challenge faced by the government in this undertaking.Findings – Despite the governments promotion of greater diversity and autonomy in the tertiary education landscape, the government maintains centralised control through systems of accountability to, and funding from, the state. The case st...

Communities of practice: dynamics and success factors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics and key success factors in the development of communities of practice (CoP).Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study, using in‐depth interviews, was conducted in a multinational company (MNC) in Singapore.Findings – The findings indicate that CoPs can facilitate the creation, sharing and utilisation of knowledge in an organisation, positively affecting its strategy, operations and bottom line. The key factors that nurture CoPs to promote innovative learning and knowledge‐sharing environments are leadership, culture and individual motivation.Practical implications – The findings indicate the value of informal CoPs in promoting innovative cultures with high levels of collaboration among organisational members.Originality/value – This is an empirical study that reveals the dynamics of CoP development in an MNC and the key success factors of CoP development from the point of view of the employees in the company.

A comparative study of Singapore's school excellence model with Hong Kong's school‐based management

Purpose – This paper aims to examine and compare the school excellence model (SEM) approach adopted by Singapore and the school‐based management (SBM) approach adopted by Hong Kong. It discusses the implications of such a strategy and the challenges that both Singapore and Hong Kong schools face in navigating a new paradigm of managerialism while satisfying the requirements of quality assurance.Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilises a comparative approach to analyse the development of educational quality assurance and the movement to decentralise power to the schools in Singapore and Hong Kong. The framework of analysis involves: approach to decentralisation; effects of education marketisation; school leaders, teachers and the profitable use of quality models.Findings – Both Singapore and Hong Kong utilise a centralised decentralisation approach though with different intent. Education marketisation accentuates the underlying dynamics of fierce competition and accountability through performance ...

Mentoring and coaching educators in the Singapore education system

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the practice of mentoring and coaching in the Singapore education system, to show the difference in philosophy in which these two concepts have been applied and to discuss the issues and challenges involved in their implementation.Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews the mentoring and coaching systems in Singapore through literature review and a critical analysis of the mentoring and coaching philosophies and schemes for the different levels of educators.Findings – This paper shows that mentoring and coaching are implemented in many areas of the professional development of educators in Singapore. These include mentoring for trainee teachers, beginning teachers, training school leaders and beginning school leaders; and coaching in the performance management system of all teachers and school leaders. However, there are inherent tensions in having an appraisal connotation in some mentoring and coaching platforms in Singapore and in encouraging cri...

Developing forward‐looking and innovative school leaders: the Singapore Leaders in Education Programme

The Leaders in Education Programme is a six‐month full‐time programme for specially selected vice‐principals and ministry officers in Singapore to prepare them for school leadership. This paper describes and analyses the design of the programme and identifies the key underlying principle as that of knowledge construction, sharing and application using a social constructivism paradigm. In particular, it examines one particular component, the Future School project, in detail so as to illustrate these principles and how they operate in action. Drawing from the experiences of the Future School project, this paper suggests some pointers to designing a programme for school leadership.

The global war for talent: responses and challenges in the Singapore higher education system

This article considers the Singapore governments aims to develop its higher education system into a Global Schoolhouse to tap into a lucrative global market in higher education. To do so, the higher education system in Singapore needs to compete globally for talent. This article examines the responses and challenges of the Singapore higher education system against the backdrop of the global talent war. It first describes the higher education system in Singapore and analyses the systems response to the talent war. Then, it examines the issues and challenges in attracting world class universities and top academics and in attracting talented foreign university students. In particular, although Singapore has been successful in some regards, the challenges are the growth of this education hub in a government-controlled approach, cultural differences between locals and foreign talents and local sentiments to foreign talent.

Incremental beliefs of ability, achievement emotions and learning of Singapore students

This study investigated the relationships of students’ incremental beliefs of math ability to their achievement emotions, classroom engagement and math achievement. A sample of 273 secondary students in Singapore were administered measures of incremental beliefs of math ability, math enjoyment, pride, boredom and anxiety, as well as math classroom attention and disruption. In addition, students’ end-of-year math achievement scores were collected from school records. The hypothesised mediation model was supported in structural equation modelling analysis. Incremental beliefs of math ability were associated positively with math enjoyment and pride, and negatively with math boredom and anxiety. Achievement emotions fully mediated the relationships of incremental beliefs of math ability to classroom engagement and math achievement. Incremental beliefs of math ability were associated positively with classroom attention through math enjoyment and pride, negatively with classroom disruption through math anxiety and positively with math achievement through the two outcome-related emotions, math pride and anxiety. The findings and implications are discussed in the academic context of Singapore.

Examining the Use of New Science Metaphors in the Learning Organisation.

Purpose – In recent years, the new science has become popular in management literature. This involves the use of metaphors from the field of science (e.g. mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology) in the field of management. This paper aims to examine the use of new science metaphors in learning organisation (LO) discourse and research.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a theoretical analysis of the use of new science metaphors in LO discourse and research. In particular, the paper illustrates the potential value of such metaphors through four examples and explores the issue of appropriate application and interpretation.Findings – This paper shows that using new science metaphors in the field of the LO can enrich the understanding and practice of LOs. However, one has to adopt a reflexive approach so that one is more critically aware of the assumptions behind their usage. This will lead to a more appropriate application and interpretation of such metaphors in context.Practical implications – S...